Mitigation Measures Apparently there has been a cap, instituted because COVID-19, on the fees that delivery services are allowed to charge restaurants: 15% on deliveries and 5% on related administration (like web sites, credit card processing, etc.) The province has now extended that cap until 31 Dec. The dude who got busted for setting up… Continue reading 2021-09-25/26/27 BC
Author: Ducky
2021-09-25/26/27 General
Pathology A paper last week said that the risk of heart inflammation in young men was one in a thousand. As this article reports, they were waaaaaay off in their count of the total number of vaccinations in Ontario; the correct figure turns out to be one in 1 in 25,000. I can’t for the… Continue reading 2021-09-25/26/27 General
2021-09-24 General
Mitigation Measures This US CDC report says that counties with school mask mandates had lower absolute pediatric case rates (16.32 per 100K/day vs. 34.85 per 100K/day) and a lower increase in cases after school started. This (different) US CDC report says that counties without a mask mandate in schools had a 3.5x higher chance of… Continue reading 2021-09-24 General
2021-09-24 BC
Hospitalizations There was been disgruntled chatter in the previous few days about how the province is not reporting people in hospital in the COVID-19 briefings if the person is no longer COVID-19 positive. Something I realized is that it would be tricky to give the number. What if someone goes to the hospital for a… Continue reading 2021-09-24 BC
2021-09-23 BC
Testing This article says that yesterday was a record-breaking testing day, especially in Abbotsford. 45% of today’s cases were in Fraser. Reporting For some reason, the fact that the province only counts people who are currently contagious with COVID-19 in their hospitalization numbers is getting attention right now. The policy means that we don’t know… Continue reading 2021-09-23 BC
2021-09-23 General
Vaccines This long and highly technical preprint also says that the MMR vaccine gives some protection against and that the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine does. The authors did two things: They took T cells from blood which had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (either from infection or vaccination) and added either MMR or Tdap vaccines, and… Continue reading 2021-09-23 General
2021-09-22 General
Vaccines In this study, the authors made pseudoviruses — things which have SARS-CoV-2 spikes on them but which can’t infect people, and “mutated” the spikes. They were able to find a mutant spike that were almost completely resistant to antibodies from either people who had had COVID-19 and had not been vaccinated or who had… Continue reading 2021-09-22 General
2021-09-22 BC
Schools This article says that according to a parent-run Facebook page called BC School COVID Tracker, there have been at least 183 exposures at 117 B.C. schools and child-care facilities over the last three weeks. This article says an elementary school in Chiliwack has suspended in-person classes and gone to virtual because of rising case… Continue reading 2021-09-22 BC
2021-09-21 BC
Press Briefing I did not watch the press briefing, but I got information from other sources about what they said. This article says they said things are pretty dire in Northern Health Authority. There are only 5 nurses filling 20 positions in Fort St. John, for example. They have already flown 12 patients out of… Continue reading 2021-09-21 BC
2021-09-21 General
Mitigation Measures The land border into the USA from Canada will remain closed to non-essential non-Americans until at least 21 October. Vaccines This preprint says that the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine has a vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 infection of 48% and 76% effectiveness against severe disease. I think this is huge news,… Continue reading 2021-09-21 General